Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid

[Pike Bishop]

Has this been released on DVD and where can I pick a copy up from? More to the point is it a good transfer?
Saw a bit on tv last night and it reminded me how good a film it is.

[Michael Brooke]

"No" and "Don't know" would be the best answers I can give you right now - there's no DVD out or planned as far as I know.

[MJ Ryan]

Originally posted by Michael Brooke
"No" and "Don't know

:(

One of my "most wanted"...

[Snuffy]

Magnificent elegaic western from the best Peckinpah had to offer. The ever unsung Kristofferson and indeed Coburn for that matter are perfectly matched as hunter and hunted. Above all though it's the avoidance of cliche that stands out.

Dylan's music genuinely enhances the deliberately washed out photography and with a superb supporting cast it's one of my favourite westerns. Slow moving yes but but to my mind it brilliantly captures the brutality and split personality of the old west.

Just watch the scene where Garrett (Coburn) is idly resting beside a river and a run down river craft trundles by. The man on board has chucked a bottle into the river and is attemtping to blast out of the water. Garrett raises his pistol and similarly attempts to shoot at it. The man on the boat as a result turns his gun on Garrett and shoots at him, missing wildly.

No words are spoken but the look on both characters faces speaks volumes about the western way of life. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

I just pray that when it is released the Peckinpah's extended cut is made available.

[horseflesh]

true....................an underrated classic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Idle Child]

yes, i thoroughly enjoyed it also. The explosive and graphic violence from Peckinpah is always brooding below the surface. An interesting use of slow down camera shots.. particulary of when Billy shoots his shotgun at the top of the stairs.. there seems to be a tracer effect.

Wild Bunch was one of my first purchases, and i guess i could argue that although it's a good film, much of the dynamism lies in the final showdown..

With Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid however, i'd say there are more set-pieces scattered throughout the movie and it's not just about the final showdown.

[gZa]

Originally posted by Idle Child
An interesting use of slow down camera shots.. particulary of when Billy shoots his shotgun at the top of the stairs.. there seems to be a tracer effect.This is also used when Charles Martin Smith's character get shot... I don't think Peckinpah used this effect in his other films (it's kind of like reprinting the same frame to create 'artifical' slow mo' - I think) and I've always wondered whether this was done post production when Roger Spottiswoode restored the director's cut.
i.e. It may have originally been a slow mo' shot that was replaced with a normal speed one (for the Theatrical release) and the original was lost, thus Spottiswoode had to faked the slow mo' in the director's cut! :confused:

Note : If these scenes are in the original theatrical release then forgot what I just said! :D

[Raider89]

I've been waiting for this one for ages, I hope it gets a release soon :(

I loved the Wild Bunch too, I hope Warner Bros rerelease this, as its flipper disc is criminal :(

[John Hodson]

One of my all-time favourite westerns, with the river raft scene possibly my favourite ever scene from a movie (the studio execs hated it, basically because they didn't get it - it had nothing to do with the story, they claimed, it slowed down the narrative. :confused: )

Re-cut after Peckinpah's untimely (but not unexpected) demise, it's a genre masterpiece, that even survives Sam's ill-advised, but somehow quite charming, Hitchcockian appearance. James Coburn, BTW, is utterly brilliant.

If we don't get a series of Peckinpah SE's then just what is the point of DVD anyway?

---
If they move...kill 'em.

[Davester]

Loved it, although I am glad it is not out as it'll save me the $

[pdjw]

Has anyone seen the original? Apparently there is an extra bit where the old guy's (who was working on a boat which he never finished) guts fall out into the river? All he does in the directors cut is sit down beside the river and die, probably better edited out but my dad who saw it at the cinema when it first came out told me about the scene and how it has never been shown on any television version.
When this film does finally come out I will opt for the R1, because the british version is cut by 12 secs. How annoying!